LIFE Classic Photographs: A Personal Interpretation

by John Loengard

Life Classic Photographs showcases the best of the best - memorable photographs from Life that astonish and amaze, delight and amuse, elicit compassion and reflection. A classic in itself, the collection has been expanded and updated by John Loengard, former Life picture editor and photographer, to 120 "photographs that stick in the mind" selected from a dazzling panorama of 60 years and over 2000 issues. Loengard's accompanying text gives us an insider's account of the story behind each masterwork of Life's great photographers, from historic moments and celebrity candids to extraordinary events etched on the faces of ordinary people.
Includes classic photographs by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Sebastiao Salgado, Margaret Bourke-White, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Eve Arnold, Harry Benson, Bruce Weber, Mary Ellen Mark, Ruth Orkin, Gordon Parks, and Eugene Richards

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Reference, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

John Loengard is a veteran LIFE photographer and an archivist of LIFE's illustrious history. He received the Henry Luce Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 from TIme Inc.

Reviews

[J.D. Steens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the photos in this collection did not speak for themselves. They acquired import only with the narrative that accompanied them. I suppose this is like reading poetry. Some poems speak directly. Others require the import of extraneous information to appreciate the subtleties and to understand what is being said.

Some photos are good because of the content itself – so much so that it’s independent of what the photographer brings to the picture. The collection includes a photo of a half-lit earth from the moon by the orbiting Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders. The narrative accompanying this picture refers to it as “probably the most astonishing photograph ever made,” and notes that many photographers “asked Life to assign them to the first trip to the moon.” Loengard, who selected the pictures in this collection, then adds the odd comment, “Still, I am curious to see what more talented photographers will record someday in space.”

In the narrative for another picture, there is this reference to what a (Life) photo editor looks for: “the strange, the peculiar, the startling, the different.” I thought that was good, but also leaned too heavily in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not direction, and misses the artistic eye, and those many news photos that capture the essence of a story.

[Jen Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very interesting and entertaining to look through this book and read the blurbs about each picture. There were definitely some good pictures and the descriptions helped tell the stories behind each one. Fun to look through!

[Ponmuthu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adage "A Picture Tells Thousand Words", if combined with short writeup of what inspired the photographer to click the moment, indeed tells a very intriguing Story.

The pictures in this book are very hard hitting reality, that I feel some portion of the History especially relating to war could have been changed only if the pictures were published in real time and lot more people were made aware of the impact of war.

There are few pictures where raw emotion can be felt by the audience - Paul Schutzer's Italian Man, Elliot Erwitt's Mother and Child, Ed Clark's C.P.O. Graham Jackson, Bruno Barbey's Umbrellas, to name a few.

We can find many treasures in this book, and the priceless value can be understood once we realize these photos were taken by Manual SLRs and Cameras, where finding the right moment , composition of the scene and approptiate Lighting is not a matter of luck.For us living in Digital era, its hard to understand & appreciate some of the tricks adopted to capture the story.

As the book rightly states "In Photography truth tends to be stronger than fiction - especially when we realize that the complexity of moment is Superbly Human".

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting look at many images published in Life magazine over the last century. I loved reading the short description of each, especially when it included information about how the photographer took the shot. Those older cameras were not nearly so sensitive as the ones we have today, and some of the things done with slow shutter speeds or creative techniques were amazing.

Some of the photos were disturbing war images, others ironic political portraits. One thing that surprised me was how many of the photos, even of journalistic events, were staged. Another thing that bothered me was the sexualization of the images from Hollywood, particularly one of a 15-year-old Elizabeth Taylor that looked like a pin-up model and once graced the cover of Life. Ick.

[Jenni V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, published in 1988, was fascinating to page through. Some of the people and events were famous, most were not, but all are historical gems.
The descriptions of how laborious early photography was, especially concerning lighting, was very interesting and made them even more impressive.

Find all my reviews at:
http://readingatrandom.blogspot.com/2...

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life Classic Photographs by John Loengard (Bullfinch Press 1996)(779.0904). These are selected photos culled from the 2000+ issues of Life magazine. Many of the subjects and almost all of the artists are legends. Many of these photos are approaching iconographic status and will be instantly recognizable to the reader. My rating: 7/10, finished 2001.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the captions of each photo which included the photographer's motivation for taking the shot.

[Denise Ballentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

So loved perusing these wonderful photographs and enjoying the interesting commentary!

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative shorts telling the stories behind famous LIFE photographs.